Radi Un Draugi - Riga, Latvia     

This hotel has a great location if you want to stay close to the old town, and next to shopping and nightlife. I stayed here for two days and had only good experience with the staff. As many others have said, the breakfast was ok, but not "great". I had a room with windows turned towards the "bar-street", some noise from drunk people walking in the street outside, but for me it was no problem to sleep There is a modern shopping mall very close to the hotell. This mall also has a fitness center at the top floor, which is excellent, you can "pop in", you don't have to be a member. You could buy a day-pass, and then you could attend any class you want. I made reservation on the hotels own homepage. Their price was the lowest I could find on the internet, usually I find the opposite, that most hotel homepage give you a higher rate than other internetsites.

Latvian friends of ours booked this hotel for us. We were visiting Vainode in South Western Latvia on a British Council school exchange. Their judgement on hotels was bang on every time [they also booked brilliant accommodation for us in the coastal town of Liepaja. The pluses for this hotel are that it is slap bang in the middle of the Old Town; rooms are spotless clean; the plumbing is excellent; towels are big and changed regularly; reception desk staff are very helpful; and for two blokes with big appetites breakfast is substantial! The downside is that the hotel lacks those nuances which make for a memorable stay. Rooms were functional, the decor is nondescript and the evening meal we had in the hotel was truly awful. But, hey, if you are visiting Old Riga you should be using your hotel as a base and for little else. Do try to get a guided tour of the Old Town - the guides seem to be based at the steps of the Opera House. Our tour was superb. The hotel will book you a taxi to the airport for a fixed fee of 12 lats.